Mike's musings

More walking

Took Jo for another walk today, this time just the two of us. We did the Tilbury walk (about 3 miles), and extended it to pop in to see James, Claudia and Stella (who were out). I kept a decent pace up, and by the end, was a bit achy, but this seems to have subsided over the afternoon. A nice, hot bath this evening, and all will be fine, I'm sure.

Preached at Little Yeldham this morning, at the 9:30am. I turned up at Tilbury-juxta-Clare at around 9:00am, but Mike, the Reader in the benefice, turned up a little before 9:20am, and was rather surprised to see me (as I was, him). After some thinking, we decided that I probably had the wrong church. Tried phoning Moo to check, using Mike's mobile, but no coverage, so I popped into my car (still in my alb), and drove hot-foot (can you drive hot-foot?) to Little Yeldham. They were very pleased to see me, but just because they were expecting to have to take the service themselves (as they often do), and always prefer to have someone, rather than expecting me. So we popped over to someone's house, and phoned Moo. She confirmed that I was supposed to be at Tilbury, but by that stage, there was no point in going back, as Mike was already there. Note - Tilbury, without an organist, use a double-bass player to fill in. Great plan.

I preached on Matthew 22:34-46 (the Great Commandments and what I think of as "the Awkward Question", where Jesus asks the Pharisees why David would call the Messiah - his descendant/son - "Lord"). After pointing out that we're often asked awkward questions as Christians, I went on to talk about the the commandment "Love you neighbour as yourself", suggesting that in order to get to the first part of that commandment, you first need to love yourself. Not, obviously, in a narcissistic way, but accepting what you have been, what you are, what you can be, and what you actually will be, along with all of the disappoinments, problems and joys that this entails. Once you can accept yourself, your possibilities, your sins, and your joys, then maybe you will be able to see the same in your neighbours. In order to love yourself fully, you need to accept God's love, and love him (the first commandment), so this all brings it together. The sermon seemed to go down well (I even got an accolade, which is always nice), and the service passed without undue incident, so I was pleased.

Managed to find Mike afterwards, before he started the Great Yeldham 11:00am service, and we decided that Keith had got confused about who he'd asked to take the service before he went on holiday. No harm done, and everyone got a service, all's well.